aku, Azerbaijan, May 21
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran will expedite exploration activity at the Azar oilfield, which is shared with Iraq.
Bahman Soroushi, Managing Director of Global Petro Tech Kish Company, said a new drilling rig will be added to the two currently operating rigs at the oilfield by the next three weeks, Iran's Shana news agency reported on May 21.
A total of 19 drilling rigs are projected to be commissioned at the oilfield, 10 of which belong to Global Petro Tech Kish Company, he noted.
Iran will start production at the Azar oilfield in the first half of the next Iranian calendar year (starts on March 21, 2015).
The Azar oilfield spans an overall area of 482 square kilometers in southeast of Mehran town in the western Iranian province of Ilam.
In October 2011, Iran's Oil Ministry inked a $1.9-billion contract with a consortium of domestic companies for the development of the Azar oilfield.
Before assigning the project to the domestic consortium, Iran was negotiating the development of Azar oilfield with Russia's Gazprom Company. However, Gazprom dropped out of the project due the company's failure to meet its commitments.
Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on February 15 that Tehran has invested over $4.4 billion in its joint fields with Iraq to date.
Developing of joint oilfields which are located at the western side of Karoun River is among Iranian oil ministry's top priorities.
Once all the mentioned oil fields come on stream over one million barrels per day will be added to the country's oil production capacity.
Over $20 billion is needed to be invested in the development projects of Iran's joint oil fields with Iraq.